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Obama-Romney word of the day: binders

Mitt Romney's citation of "binders" in Tuesday's debate -- during a discussion of efforts to hire more women when he was governor of Massachusetts -- prompted a frenzy on Twitter, and has now found its way into President Obama's stump speech."We don't have to order up some binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women to learn and teach and thrive and start businesses," Obama told backers Wednesday night at Ohio University in Athens.During the debate, Romney said that after his 2002 election as governor, "I went to a number of women's groups and said, can you help us find folks? And they brought us whole binders full of women."Obama and aides are adding the "binders" quote to their argument that they are better on women's issues than Romney.Republicans said the new "binder" political meme reflects a lack of substance from Obama.

Snarky Amazon.com customers have posted slews of fake (though incredibly in-depth) reviews on, you guessed it, binders. Many of the reviews, tongues firmly in cheek, give credit to the binders for their ability to contain females. LeeBo of Raleigh, North Carolina writes, "As a wife and mother, I LOVE this binder. It keeps me in my place, allows me get dinner ready on time, AND costs 72% of more masculine version. Some people might think its sexist, but sheesh, I'm not binding my feet, just my brain."

And the hits keep coming. Martha H. Saltzman writes, "I used to think women were beyond organization till I discovered these binders. Now those pesky women are lined up, organized and orderly." And Maia Appleby writes, "I'm proud to say that I'm in this binder. I've spend 20 years working my way up from Walmart mom to soccer mom, and finally, I've hit the glass ceiling. I'm a binder mom..."

BeckBeck writes, "Being a very curvy lady, I really need more of a plus-sized binder to fit into. Will one be made available soon? Otherwise, this binder has everything a woman needs- a small pocket to fit my .70 per dollar, another to store all my recipes for the vast amount of cooking I perform each and every day, plus three separate rings on which to hang my personal belongings. I'll keep my eyes peeled and my fingers crossed that a larger version will soon hit the market. In the meantime, I'm kind of enjoying the "too-tight" look as my entire worth is based on entirely superficial things."

Other reviewers aren't so positive. MMP1980 writes, "This binder is decent, but I would prefer it to include the black plastic thing on the inside so that I can flip the woman back to the front when they get out of line." And Robin H. writes, "This product might be sufficient for smaller projects, but I was looking for a binder that could be made 'full of women.' My project is aimed at improving women's historically lower employment and pay in the U.S. and an information program on TV last night featured a handsome salesman who suggested that binders was the way to go."